July 24, 2026
‘There are so many people that need help’
By Joy Rojas
In every talk she gives to Tzu Chi scholars, Rosa So never fails to implore her young audience to come back and volunteer. The reminder isn’t just so they can reciprocate the years of financial assistance through scholarships and allowances provided by the foundation and its donors. It’s simply because there are, and will always be, people who could use their help.
Years before she was head volunteer of Tzu Chi’s educational and medical assistance programs, So supported the foundation’s charitable initiatives as a paying donor. The self-described homebody rarely went out as a little girl, a teenager, and when she married and became a mother.
But once she did venture out, she found purpose in championing the needs of the poor and sick. In a medical mission in Zamboanga in 1998, her heart broke as she spoke to patients who lined up outside the venue the night before, using newspapers as sleeping mats and blankets.
“That’s when I realized that there are so many people that need help,” she said. “That’s the time I started joining Tzu Chi.”
As a volunteer, So is known to go the extra mile. In another medical mission, where she was assigned to the pharmacy, she noticed a large goiter on a woman asking for medicines. Aware that the woman didn’t have the resources to get professional help, and would have to wait for another medical mission to have her goiter removed, So took it upon herself to accompany the woman to one of the volunteer doctors and ask him to treat her.
“Rosa,” the volunteer doctor said, “at the rate you keep sending us patients, the surgeons won’t be able to sleep anymore!”
In seeking funding for Tzu Chi scholars, it’s almost as if she’s asking assistance for one of her own children. Each time she shares the struggles of indigent students with donors, she can’t help but get emotional.
“I always cry when I tell them your stories,” she said to the scholars who attended the 2026 Tzu Chi Scholars’ Camp on July 3-5 at the Buddhist Tzu Chi Campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila. “For the story of John Welter and Jean Myca Manayaga (twins of a single mother who were both awarded scholarships in 2024), I don’t know how many times I cried. Everyone always says that business is bad these days, so when we get donations and give them to you, we hope you don’t waste Tzu Chi’s help.”
In return, she asks for so little, if anything at all. She hopes scholars appreciate Tzu Chi’s Humanity classes, once-a-month talks on relevant topics and teachings by Dharma Master Cheng Yen.
“I will not let a speaker stand here if I didn’t hear him in his previous speaking engagements in other organizations,” she said. “So, remember that. I worked hard for it.”
And then there is her tireless request for scholars to make time for the foundation that was there when they needed help the most.
It sounds like a thankless job, but for So, the ultimate reward is seeing how scholars are able to make improvements to their homes and lives after they graduate from college and get regular jobs.
“It makes us so happy,” she said with satisfaction. “It means all our hard work has paid off.”
(Left) Rosa So, head volunteer of Tzu Chi’s educational and medical assistance programs, receives gifts at a surprise segment for July celebrators at the 2026 Tzu Chi Scholars’ Camp. Joining her is camp head Heart Baquilar.
(Seated, third from right) Sharing her volunteer story with participants at the Tzu Chi Youth Camp in June
(Back row, fourth from right) With fellow volunteers and local government personnel at Tzu Chi’s 290th medical mission in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro
(Right) Hugging a grateful beneficiary at a medical mission in Sultan Kudarat
(Left) Cheering for a new homeowner during the turnover ceremony of permanent homes at the Tzu Chi Palo Great Love Village in Leyte in 2024.
As head volunteer of Tzu Chi’s educational and medical assistance programs, Rosa So explains how donations big and small have changed the lives for thousands of beneficiaries.
Participating in the lively single-file dance for “Pulling the Ox Cart,” Rosa So is followed by Tzu Chi Zamboanga Deputy OIC Harvey Yap and Tzu Chi Malaysia volunteer Sonny Cheah.